To the outside world, Groom Lake was simply a salt flat used as a runway for the Nellis Bombing Range Test Site airport at Area 51. A secretive, but ultimately mundane location for testing new military aircraft designs. While that was true to an extent, the activities at Groom Lake extended far beyond the straightforward facade presented to the public.
A series of cavernous underground facilities lay beneath the dry lakebed, home to several Unacknowledged Special Access Programs, or black projects as they were more commonly known as. Project Charlatan occupied one minor section of the underground complex, having only recently begun to claw its way to credibility with the agency sponsoring it. Robert stood with his hands behind his back, observing a tasteful arrangement of petunias growing in a ceramic bowl.
It lay behind a thick pane of glass, on a simple pedestal in a cleanroom environment. Two fully suited lab techs ran tests on it while three others did the same for the corpse that had been retrieved last night, seated on a nearby table in the same room.
Taken from one of the Las Vegas impact sites, the flowers had almost been dismissed out of hand, but preliminary tests found that they were radiating the same kind of magical energy as the corpse, or the Kenfield array for that matter.
So far the magic radiating from the two was believed to be a short-lived aftereffect, a residue of their passage through the rift, but there were intriguing hints of a second magical field emanating from the flowers, subtle and difficult to detect.
In contrast, the rift’s magical residue was relatively easy to detect and trace. It was practically a beacon shining in the night for anyone with the proper equipment. Twelve teams had been assembled to track down as many sources of the rift's magic as possible, each armed with a single hastily cobbled together detector.
It would take a little under a week to acquire the parts needed to build another batch of detectors, but by then they'd be useless. At its current rate of decay, the magical residue would fade completely in as little as three days time. Each hour that passed would make it harder and harder to detect them from a distance. Robert knew that they had just one chance to get it right before this golden opportunity slipped from their grasp.
Ideally, first contact would be made peacefully and the scattered visitors would be gathered and kept out of the public’s eye until society was ready to accept their existence. Ideally. The lines around Robert’s eyes deepened. If they turned out to be hostile, then he'd do anything it took to protect the civilian population. The Kenfield array had been activated under his direction. Whatever happened as a result of that test would be his responsibility.
A crisp tone from a device in his pocket signaled an incoming call. With a sigh, Robert removed a flowing metal disc, the size of a matchbook. Embedded in the center was a polished red crystal, with three smaller crystals positioned beneath it. Though he couldn't see it, he knew that one of the crystals was insistently blinking in ultraviolet. One of these days we'll have to get around to adapting that bit for human vision. he thought to himself.
"Accept call," he stated, watching impassively as a volumetric display blossomed into being in front of him. Lines of solid light wove through the air, painting detailed data about the caller. At the center of the web lay a full-color video feed showing a man in black SWAT gear.
"Sir, Lambda team reporting in. We've located one of the signatures." Though the device was still in his hand, Robert could hear the soldier's voice coming from the same location as the floating screen. Glancing at the positional marker on a map hovering to his left, Robert could see that the call was coming from a spot in the desert about forty kilometers northwest of the Las Vegas city limits.
"Excellent." He replied. "Was there any difficulty in making contact with it?"
The man looked uncomfortable. "Actually I think you'll want to see this for yourself." The view rotated and Robert's eyebrow rose at the sight. There, standing upright in the middle of a familiar rainwater-filled crater was a blue door, slightly ajar in its frame. "This isn't one of the impact sites we were already aware of. It's a safe bet that there are more of these out there than we were expecting."
"All the more reason to move quickly while we can still find them." Robert said. "Secure the door and move on to the next target. Remember your orders. Follow the first contact protocols and don't shoot unless you have no other choice. Good luck and Godspeed."
The floating displays vanished into nothingness as Robert deactivated the device. It really wasn't unexpected for there to be more impact sites than the sixteen reported by the public and the four additional ones the government knew of so far, but he had to admit that the door was an unexpected development. Had random objects been summoned through the rift as well, or was something else going on? Did it have something to do with the reason that they had materialized way out in the desert rather than within the boundaries of the Kenfield array as had been expected?
Robert shook his head. Too many questions. All he could do right now was settle down and wait until another team reported in. Turning back to face the bowl of petunias behind the glass, Robert clasped his hands behind his back.
I was tired. Rearranging my sleeping habits for a daytime event and taking a cross-country roadtrip were draining enough, and with the events of the past two days added to the mix it was a recipe for exhaustion.
I had only been able to get a few hours of sleep before my body insisted that I should actually be awake, fatigue notwithstanding. I was glad to see that nothing had caught fire while I'd been asleep and decided to use the time while I was up to get an early start- very early by most people's standards.
It was still very dark out when we started driving. Business as usual for me. It'd probably take a couple days to properly readjust back to a nocturnal lifestyle once I got back home.
After driving for several hours I stopped to get another hotel room because I was too tired to stay awake at the wheel. Taking the same fire precautions as I had with the previous hotel room, I fell asleep. When I woke up again it was around four pm, which is about when I normally get up. Staring up from the bed I could see the alien curiously examining her new surroundings as she surveyed the room from her vantage point on the ceiling above me. She gave a happy chirp when she saw me moving and jumped down to land on my chest.
The impact almost knocked the breath out of me for a moment. As soon as I recovered I quickly checked to make sure she hadn't hurt herself. If the prancing and tiny laughter were any indication, she was just fine. I groaned and closed my eyes. "I hope that's not going to become a habit with you." I said.
A tiny nose pressed itself against my side in reply. With a sigh I got out of bed and started getting ready for the rest of the drive home. After feeding and changing the alien I packed my stuff and headed out into the crisp afternoon air with the alien hidden in my backpack. The weather was getting noticeably colder as I traveled away from California and back to Nebraska.
For the first hour or so the alien kept trying to get my attention and play with her, but unlike the empty desert road from before, the busy freeway I was currently traveling required me to pay much closer attention to what I was doing.
Eventually she gave up and curled up on the passenger seat, bursting into flame and becoming a terrier again before laying her head down on her paws and yawning.
The sun gradually descended, marking the close of another day. I drove on through the night, stopping only once or twice to make pit stops and grab some food. The alien was back in her normal form and staring out the window at the piles of dirty white snow melting along the road, visible in my headlights. The myriad red and white lights from the other cars moving in the darkness also seemed to capture her interest. Far in the distance I could see the glow of the city beckoning me home, and the first rays of sunrise peeking out from beyond it.
Before long I was pulling into the driveway of my modest home. I could see Nicole's car parked there already, and smiled when I saw her dozing at the wheel. The alien was asleep too at the moment. A quick glance at my dashboard told me it was 7:18 am, just an hour or two before I usually went to bed.
I got out and tapped on Nicole's window. She gave a start and looked around before unlocking the door and getting out. "So, ready to tell me what's going on now Shaun?" She said.
"Sure, as soon as I get inside and lie down for a bit." I said, going back to my car to retrieve the sleeping alien. I held her inside my jacket as I walked to the front steps of my house. "I'm pretty wiped out from the trip and all."
"I'm not. But then, I got here before you and had a full night's sleep." Nicole said. "Also, I'm dying to know what the story behind all this is."
I smiled at her. "Really? I couldn't tell. The fact that you're here waiting outside my house didn't clue me in at all." I unlocked the front door and went in.
The inside was fairly minimalist. I didn't own a lot of furniture or decorations, and preferred a clean, open aesthetic. Also, I didn't have much extra money to buy anything to spruce the place up. In light of the alien's incendiary properties, that was probably for the best.
One exception was the large bookcase along the wall. It contained row after row of books, dog-eared classics I'd read as a kid, new textbooks for the courses I was studying, books I'd gotten from library sales or thrift stores, a set of encyclopedias, and much more.
There was a tv and VCR propped up on a coffee table, but I didn't watch movies that often.
I sat down on the couch and leaned back, closing my eyes. "Okay, so what do you want to know first?"
"How about some more details on how you found this thing. The other day I believe you mentioned something about Area 51?"
"Yeah, I was driving along U.S. Route 95 not too far from where Area 51 is, and there was this really weird green lightning that hit the road in front of me. When I pulled up to where it had hit, there was a crater with this egg inside it. The thing splits open as I come near it and next thing you know, a baby alien pops out." I told Nicole the story of how I saved it from drowning and gained its trust. She listened intently as I told her the details of its first feeding session and how I had to help remove the rest of its shell.
When I told her about what I'd heard on the news about the other lightning strikes Nicole interrupted me. "Wait, so are you telling me there are more of these things running around loose out there?"
"It seems like it. One guy saw something he thought was a large dog running away from one of the craters, but I think it might have been an adult of whatever alien species they belong to." I said.
"Shaun, we should really tell someone about this." Nicole said. "This is really too big to handle on your own. What if they try attacking, or you mess up with taking care of this one and accidentally kill it because you don't know what you're doing?"
"I've already thought about that. I don't think the others are here as an attack force or anything- it simply doesn't make any sense to take helpless infants along on operations like that. If she starts getting sick and I can't do anything to help her, then I'll take her to the authorities and try to get her the help she needs. But unless that happens, I'm not going to reveal their existence on my own." I said. "If the rest of their kind step forward, then by all means I'll do the same. But if not, then they probably have a good reason for it and I won't throw them to the sharks without any proof of wrongdoing on their part. If it turns out that they didn't reveal themselves because of some government coverup for example, then it'd be better for all of us if we just keep quiet."
Nicole sighed. "I think you're taking an awfully large risk here Shaun, but if I can't convince you otherwise then I'll go along with it. But only if you mean what you said about getting her professional care if her health starts going downhill." She gave me a stern look. "I won't stand by and let one of the first representatives of a new intelligent species die because you were too busy wearing a tinfoil hat and looking over your shoulder for black helicopters."
"Don't worry, I won't let that happen." I said.
There was an awkward silence for a few moments before Nicole asked; "Have you thought about what you're going to call her yet?"
I looked over to where the alien was pouncing an invisible foe on the carpet. "Not yet. I'm open for suggestions though. Maybe something like Chitter or Ripley.”
Nicole looked thoughtful. "How about Kerrigan?"
"Any particular reason?" I asked.
"There's this guy I know that works at Blizzard Entertainment, met him while doing some cost estimation work for them a little while back. He was telling me about a new game they're working on, and that was the name of one of the characters. She's supposed to be a former human that becomes some sort of alien bug queen. The little alien there reminds me a bit of some of the artwork I saw of Kerrigan and her swarm. A lot cuter perhaps, but definitely a resemblance to something I might expect to see there."
"Kerrigan... Kerri... I like it." I got up and picked up the alien. "Kerrigan. I think that's what I'll call you." A playful growl and an attempt to gnaw on my hand was my only reply. Turning to face Nicole I said "It's not long before you need to leave for work and I need to go to bed. Mind telling me anything else you know about that game they're working on in the meantime?"
Nerium was still reeling from the revelations he had come across in the home he had infiltrated earlier. Not so much from the woman herself- she had been singularly unhelpful in answering most of the questions he had posed to her- but from the 1992 Almanac she had suggested he look at for further information.
As of the time of the book’s printing, almost five and a half billion humans dwelt on this planet. Over two hundred and fifty million humans lived in this nation alone. He found that his mouth had gone somewhat dry. Equestria’s pony population was only barely above the three million mark, and even if you included the non-Equestrian ponies and the various other sentient races that inhabited their world it would only come up to about a hundred million individuals.
Even with the full might of the swarm at its peak they would have no chance of fighting them on equal terms, magical advantages or no magical advantages. The humans had fought world-spanning wars against their own kind that had left sixty million dead. How much more fiercely would they fight against an army of changelings?
Nerium didn’t know how many others had made it to the other side of the unstable rift, but he was willing to bet it was less than a fraction of their already depleted forces.
The changeling disguised as a man sighed. At least one advantage of having a small force among a massive populace would be greater ease in slipping among them and vanishing from sight. Stealth, the old fallback of their empire would be the tactic of choice.
The real difficulty would lie in actually finding the others. Unlike the attack on Canterlot when the swarm had been similarly scattered, here there were no familiar landmarks to guide them, no pre-determined fallback points or known safe havens to congregate at.
True, the rest probably hadn't been scattered too widely, and the senses of an attentive changeling could pick out one of their disguised kin in a crowd, but with the sheer size and scope of the city it could be several months before he stumbled across another of his kind by chance. Years even.
Nerium ground his teeth in frustration. This was the sort of undertaking Harvesters were needed for, not Warriors like himself. His chosen skillset wouldn't be of any use in finding the others, nor would it be of much help in sustaining himself while he searched.
At least the Warrior caste had experience in moving undetected amongst an unsuspecting populace. He shuddered to think of how a Shaper or Keeper would react to being thrust outside of the hive and left to fend for themselves alone, particularly in such an unfamiliar and chaotic environment.
Machines positively littered the roads here. Internal combustion engines were far from unheard of in Equestria, but they were considered little more than a novelty. Earth ponies were both stronger and faster than any engine that had been devised to date, and provided the bulk of Equestria's shipping and transportation needs. Watching the busy street, it was obvious that humans had taken a different path, one of innovation and steel.
Nerium smiled thinly despite himself. Intelligence and ingenuity were traits he respected, no matter where they were found. In an ally they were valuable commodities, while in an adversary they were obstacles not to be taken lightly. All this, without magic... A thought occurred to him. The people of this world had no prior knowledge of their kind, no legends to hint at dark designs or predatory intent. How much might the swarm gain by working with them openly? This was a clean slate, a chance to escape the snares and pitfalls of the past.
To live like the shortsighted desolo, but without even the pretense of disguising themselves as the locals as they did... Even ignoring the other fundamental problems it brought, in Equestria it was a dangerous and hopelessly naive course of action that was doomed to failure at the slightest misstep. But with some modifications, perhaps the desolo's lifestyle could be made to work here. Nerium made a mental note to avoid doing anything that would jeopardize future relations with the humans. Or at least, to avoid doing anything further to jeopardize the possibility of friendly relations between their two races. No need for them to learn about his earlier intelligence-gathering methods.
A new thought made his heart quicken. If friendly relations were established with the humans early on, then it raised the possibility of using their media services to send a public message to the scattered members of the swarm, telling them where to go, what to do in order to meet each other again and start a new life, rather than wandering aimlessly on their own for however long it would take to find each other the hard way.
For the first time in ages Nerium dared to feel a shred of hope for the fate of his people. Not since he had first joined the fledgeling queen Chrysalis with her seductive plans to bring the swarm to power and revitalize their dying race had he felt this way. Moments afterward, the taste of bile rose in his throat as the memory reminded him of how hopes could turn to ash and nightmares in an instant. Not this time. he promised himself.
This time he would plan and prepare for all eventualities, observing and researching the situation before blindly committing himself to a single course of action. This time he would not fail the swarm, would not fail the ones counting on him most.
Lingering too long in indecision would be just as counterproductive as rushing in unprepared, but a day or two spent in observation and planning hopefully wouldn't be long enough for the other members of the swarm to get into any serious trouble alone.
With that in mind, Nerium turned an appraising eye to the buildings around him, trying to determine which, if any, would be suitable as a temporary shelter and base of operations while he searched for answers.
Eventually a church caught his attention after wandering into a residential area. The religious practices of these humans had little interest to him, but judging by the ‘empty’ feel of the building this was not one of their days of worship.
Perfect. Nerium wandered to the rear of the building and glanced around to ensure that he was alone and unwatched. A ring of green flames outlined itself against the wall and a shimmering emerald sphere enveloped him as he stepped through the solid barrier and into the unlit interior of the church.
Quiet footfalls whispered down the deserted hallway as he walked by. Sunlight streamed through cracks in the window shutters. Near the end of the hall he could see a painting hanging on the wall. Half-shrouded in shadows, he could make out a human pinned by his ankles and hands to a wooden frame, bleeding out while a crowd of mournful onlookers surrounded him.
Intriguing he had to admit. Was it a depiction of some sort of ritual sacrifice? The death of a martyr? An enemy or troublemaker suffering the judgement of the gods?
Nerium wondered if the answer would provide some insight into the psychology of the humans, but set it aside for the time being as he explored the building further.
The large decorated room where he assumed their main worship ceremonies took place was far too open for his tastes, providing little in the way of quick escapes or concealment in case the humans decided to come at the same time he was there. The numerous smaller side rooms on the other hand were perfect for his purposes.
Nerium began settling in for the evening, reverting to his natural form and pulling a pair of chairs together to act as a makeshift bed. The stolen almanac continued to provide him with insights into the human world as the hours passed in silence.
Tomorrow he would have to find directions to the nearest library and find a more comprehensive source on world history, as well as look up popular interpretations of what the humans imagined first contact scenarios would be like so that he would have a better idea of what he was walking into.
A twitch of his ears was the first sign that something was wrong, a barely perceptible sound of distant doors opening that was more felt than heard. Shortly afterward he could sense the emotional signatures of several living things entering his presence and making a beeline for his location.
Caution and apprehension blended with anticipation were the dominant feelings he sensed. Unless he was very much mistaken, these humans weren't here for the purposes of worship.
Neither wanting to encounter them nor find out what they were up to, Nerium got off the chairs he was resting on and assumed his human disguise once more before phasing through the wall to the outside. The sun hadn't begun to set just yet, but the sky was already starting to take on a richer hue.
Taking another look around to verify that there had been no one present to observe his means of egress, Nerium began walking down the street nonchalantly. He hadn't even made it a block away before the group of emotional signatures intruded on the periphery of his senses, headed straight for him once again.
An ugly cloud of suspicion began to prick at Nerium. He quickened his pace and changed direction, stopping only briefly by a sparse clump of bushes to crouch down and surreptitiously change disguises.
Suspicion turned to cold certainty as the flavor of the emotional signatures shifted subtly, becoming stronger, more eager, like hunters that had finally found their quarry. Despite not even being within view yet, they once more altered their course to match Nerium's own change in direction.
Deciding to figure out how and why they were tracking him later, Nerium turned his attention toward looking for an avenue of escape. A long bare strip sandwiched between the rows of houses caught his attention, wooden fences blocking the view to either side and offering a measure of privacy, a chainlink fence on either end facing the road to keep people out.
Vaulting over the chainlink fence easily, Nerium broke into a run down the long stretch of dry gravel, dotted by a chain of utility poles. Passing by one wooden pole after the other, Nerium turned his head momentarily to finally see who was pursuing him.
Eight humans with identical sets of helmets and protective black uniforms with the word 'police' emblazoned over the chest, all carrying visible weaponry except for the one in the lead, who carried a clear shield and a boxy contraption of some kind.
Nerium's mind worked feverishly to find a way out of his predicament without revealing himself. Killing them all would certainly solve the immediate problem of being chased, but it would draw far too much attention and crush any chances of peaceful interaction later. It would also be a drain on his dwindling magical reserves that he couldn't afford right now, not without a support network of dedicated Harvesters to help replenish those reserves.
His thoughts kept coming back to the question of why the humans were chasing him. No matter what angle he came at it from, it didn't make any sense. How were they tracking him? How did they even know he existed in the first place? Did they know about his true nature, or were they after him for some other reason?
The fact that he hadn't been shot at yet was encouraging, as was the lack of killer intent in the emotions of his pursuers. Nerium found himself slowing down and coming to a stop with a growl of frustration. It was clear that he wouldn't be able to outrun his pursuers, and he couldn't make use of his magic to escape without revealing himself either. Until he knew for sure that they knew his secret, there was nothing he could do.
Raising his hands into the air slowly and turning around, Nerium decided it was time to try something new. The men behind him came to a stop as well and fanned out in a semicircle, their weapons readied but not pointed at him just yet.
Both groups stared at each other for several tense moments before Nerium finally broke the silence. "Is there some reason you're here chasing me?" He said, injecting a trace of subtle accusation and innocent confusion to his voice.
The man with the shield glanced down at the boxy contraption he held, as though confirming something. "Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to come with us. You're not in trouble, we just want to ask you a few questions. Have you come across any unusual craters in the last 72 hours?"
Even without the insight offered by his emotional senses, it was obvious to Nerium that there was much being left unspoken, including the question of whether he himself was connected to the appearance of said craters.
The automatic lie was about to leave his lips, but then Nerium stopped to consider. The humans already suspected him. Magical or otherwise, there must have been something that had led them from the crater he had woken up in to his present location. A clumsy lie now would only serve to deepen whatever suspicions they might be harboring about him. His earlier train of thought regarding the establishment of positive relations with the humans came back to him with full force.
If he was to present his race in a positive light, he couldn't afford to have his first impression be one of obvious deception.
"Yes." Nerium answered, taking a leap of faith. His voice was level and calm, but internally he was more nervous and uncertain than he had ever been in his life. With practically no chance to study up on human culture he would have to play this by ear and rely on nothing but his own instincts. "Not only have I come across an unusual crater in the last few days, but I know what caused it, and suspect that you might have an idea as well." As an afterthought he added "I come in peace."
After a moments hesitation, the man with the boxy device set it down and stepped forward, offering a hand in greeting. "Jeremiah Adkins. Although this isn't quite how I pictured it, I think it's safe to say welcome to earth."
"A pleasure." Nerium replied, then took a breath and dispelled his disguise. Ignoring the way the tension ratcheted up several notches at his unexpected self-immolation, Nerium buzzed up to chest height and extended his own hoof in return. "I am Nerium Thevetia, one of six exemplars serving her highness Queen Chrysalis of the United Hives. I would be grateful if you could help me locate the rest of my kind."